Trailing edge of lumber never touches jointer knives

I purchased a used but in really good shape ~10 year old Grizzly 6” jointer. I’ve got some rough sawn lumber that has a fairly straight edge on it about 6 feet long. After trying a few boards it seems I can never get the last 2 feet of the board (trailing edge) to touch the knifes. I’ve done a lot of reading and I am applying gentle pressure down and against the fence on the outfeed table and fence. I am getting the edge cleaned up with a bandsaw for a straight cut before going to the jointer. I made a nice piece of walnut too narrow now, and tried a piece of cedar straight cut with the same jointer results. Any help is greatly appreciated.

-- Randy -- Austin, TX by way of Northwest (Woodville), OH

13 replies so far

Your out feed table isn’t level, i don’t mean buble level, i mean like paralel to the other table. I just found out that mine wasn’t level either but the oposite way it kept sniping the end of the board. To fix it you will need loosen the table mounting bolts and shim the ones that need it using washers, cardboard or pop can material. Lay a good straight level on the beds to see how far they are off using a feeler gage between the table and the level. And before you finish you may need to adjust the knives or cutter head.MIKE

I believe co-planer is the term Mike is searching for above. I agree that you need to check this. Some jointers have adjusting screws under the tbale. look there first before shimming since those are easier to use. the table surfaces should be parallel. The knives should also come to the table top. Check both ends of all the knives. Your owners manual should have directions for setting this up. This is important since this is the heart of making a board straight. good luck and let us know how this story ends.

I agree it sounds like an issue being co-planer, some investigation with a long straight edge should reveal the problem.

One other thing I can think of; any chance the 4’ of the board past the cutterhead is starting to pull the last 2’ of the board up off the table? It doesn’t take much to loose contact, depending on how long your outfeed table is. You can try keeping firm pressure on the board on the outfeed table to better support to the end of the board and see if that helps.

Before you go adjusting things, try adjusting your technique. You say you are applying gentle downward pressure on the outfeed table. Try concentrating and applying a bit more downward force on the outfeed. I think you’re being too gentle and are ending up with a darned effective tapering jig. Unintentionally, of course.

Also, 6 foot boards on a 6” jointer, while not unreasonable, might be a bit much until you get the hang of it. A jointer is a relatively simple tool in design, but demanding in technique. Pressure applied at the wrong point will turn a lot of lumber into wood chips. After getting about 6” past the knives, start shifting more and more pressure to the outfeed side until there’s no pressure on the infeed. Also, be aware of the effect gravity is having on the outfeed pulling the jointed side down and the unjointed side up off the table and skipping the blades. This is especially prevalent with long stock.

I would practice with cheap stuff—2×4s—until you get the results you want. Start with 3 or 4 foot stock and then go to 6 or 8 foot. It won’t take long to determine if the problem is technique or adjustment. Perfecting your method first could save a lot of trouble if you end up messing up what turns out to be a perfectly well adjusted machine.

I had much the same problem when I first started dressing my own lumber. A good friend talked me into trying this before trying adjustments. Try it. It could help.

Also one thing that’s good to know: Grizzly is pretty good about making owners manuals available for download on their site, even for the older machines. Just do a search for the model number or look at the Product Manuals page: http://www.grizzly.com/manuals.aspx and if that fails they have a customer service line and they’re pretty good with helping you locate older documentation if needed.

10 year old used machines don’t always come with the manuals so in case yours didn’t I figured I’d mention this. Might help if you find yourself needing to make adjustments to the tool. ;-) Good luck.

-- "If you can't do something smart, do something right." -- Sheppard Book

I’m back to report my findings and solution after finally getting some shop time to work on this jointer. I would again like to thank everyone who took the time to respond with their wisdom. I also took some photos documenting a few of the steps I took. I really was hoping that it wasn’t an issue of the two tables not being co-planer and as it turns out, that was not the culprit.

Since this was my first ever “real” jointer I had never installed or set knives before. I took a photo of the knife jig which came with the used jointer:It may be “ok” but all of the research I did talked about top dead center (TDC) and using a jig referenced directly parallel and flush with the outfeed table. Well the factory supplied jig in the photo above does neither of those things.

I am lucky in that the office I work in has a machine shop in the same building and I am friends with the two machinists. They loaned me a dial indicator. I saw a separate lumberjocks post from garagewoodworks with this video. http://www.garagewoodworks.com/video.php?video=v10I also tried to pick up the magnetic jig locally to attach to the outfeed table to set the knives at the exact same height as the outfeed table. No dice. Not to be thwarted I had an idea to make my own (photo below) Quick description, I cut a $6 aluminum level in half, connected with all-thread, checked with a feeler gauge and put a 20lb brass weight on top of it. :)

After spending time resetting all 3 knives and putting a nice coat of wood finishing wax on the tables I was ready to test a piece again. I couldn’t believe my ears when I heard the knives cutting the entire length of my boards, even 6’ boards. Talk about a feeling of accomplishment, pride and relief!

Thanks for the “Rest of the Story”. I had a similiar experience when my jointer was new. I could make a football out of a decent board in just a few passes. I was about ready to buy a boat for my anchor. Thanks again